The field of computer graphics may involve generating three-dimensional (3D) scenes and displaying the 3D scenes using a two-dimensional (2D) space, such as a display screen. For example, a 3D representation of geometric data may be rendered for display as a 3D scene on the display screen. The 3D scene may be composed of a plurality of objects. Each object may be composed of a plurality of geometric primitives. A color and a brightness level may be associated with each object in the 3D scene. In addition, the objects may be located on an imaginary Z-axis that represents the depth of object from a virtual camera capturing the 3D scene.
Creating a 3D scene may include a modeling phase, a scene layout phase and a rendering phase. The modeling phase may involve forming computer models of objects that are to be included in the 3D scene. The scene layout phase may involve placement of the objects onto the 3D scene. The rendering phase may involve generating an image from the objects placed onto the 3D scene. The 3D scene may be generated for display on the display screen according to a graphics pipeline or rendering pipeline.